User blog:ZariahGreene/Host School
Host School Quilmes High School was the name of the school that hosted us for two weeks. QHS ( Quilmes High School) started at 7:30 and their day finished at 4:50. Although this may seem like an extremely long day compared to Cary Academy which starts at 8 and finishes at 3:15, the Quilmes High students have a two hour lunch break in where they are allowed to leave campus no matter what age and go to resturants, the park, or simply go home and relax. I was not used to this. However, it was so much fun. Because Quilmes is very urban/city like we were able to walk to each others houses or walk to the closest sushi resturant. It felt like we were in New York City with endless options available to us. QHS also has “houses” like in Harry Potter. The students are divided up into different groups which are not talked about often but when they are you can sense the friendly competition within the students. There was also a panel of students captains who were the equivalents of class presidents however most of them were seniors and they were there to communicate with teachers and put together events. Due to the long hours at school and the time given to each class and disipline the students are not given homework which is foreign for Cary Academy. However the QHS students have a lot on their plate. They have 13 different classes a week. This is because they have classes in spanish and in english and non optional classes depending on which dispiline you pick in the beginning of the year which is ussually “ humanities” or business”. In Cary Academy students are given 45 min a day and and 90 min on wednesday or thursday to learn a language. This differs from QHS where english is engrained in many of their activities and lessons. One similarity between the Cary Academy and QHS was student/teacher relationships. At Cary Academy atleast half the teachers have beyond the surface relationships with their students. This is similar to QHS where the students and the teachers are extremely close. However, the difference is the severity of the relationship. QHS teachers and students not only have a beyond the surface relationship but they look like family, and are even invited to the Quinceneras and parties they throw or invited out to lunch with the students. Similar to Cary Academy QHS had multiple buildings however the interesting part was the architechture and the structure of the building. The staircase at the highschool was technically outside but led to the second floor of the building. There was also a kiosk in the school where sandwhiches, drinks, chips, and candy were sold. The was also another building for the nursery kids and the elemetary school children. Unlike Cary Academy QHS had a uniform which consisted of a white shirt for both boys and girls and green joggers for the boys or grey dress pants and a green skirt for the girls. On some days they were required to wear a tie. Sports at QHS were not something that was talked about often where as sports at cary academy seem to be apart of the every day conversation. QHS offered field hockey and soccer similar to Cary Academy but did not offer lacrosse. The robotics team was in activity that many of the students in our exchange took part in. The great thing about the robotics team at Quilmes High School was that they were not “ required” or “pushed” to attend early morning Saturday practices unlike both Cary Academy robotics teams. Another major difference between Quilmes High School and Cary Academy was the amount of test given out weekly. Although we have many test, quizzes, projects, and loads of homework. Quilmes High gave out more test then Cary Academy is known to give out most likely because thier lack of homework grades. Quilmes High School also hosted many events and parties for the students to raise money for different causes and they were sometimes hosted at other facilities which was different from Cary Academies sponsered events. Many of the students at Quilmes High School were envious of our break times and time in between classes because they are given one ten minute break during the day. One of the key differences between Quilmes High School and Cary Academy are the transitions between classes. This is a major difference because QHS has no transition between classes. Students stay in the same class room and the different teachers come to them. When they walk into the room they stand up to greet them and then they start the next class. Another difference is there gym class which is required. Although it is required for them the students have to get on a bus to go to the fields a few minutes away to participate in the class. In Cary Academy the students change location to find the teachers to have class and sometimes the classes take place in different locations such as the disovery studio or even at the outdoor classroom. Quilmes High School also takes their students on class field trips to muesuems where field trips at Cary Academy aren’t as common. Also at Quilmes High School the exchange trip is completely optional and you have to be chosen to be taken along with the coordinator. At Cary Academy you can opt out of the trip but it has to be approved and everyone can go unless told otherwise in certain situations. Although Quilmes High School and Cary Academy had its major differences one thing stayed the same the expectation of respect from one another. The students despite their differences greeted each other and showed each other a commo n respect. Category:Blog posts